Why God Desires Praise

Praise and Worship of God Benefit the Worshipper

God does not have a self-esteem problem. He does not need praise and worship to boost His ego. His desire for the attention of His creation is rooted in love. He commands praise and worship in order to benefit the worshipper.

Humans were created in His image (Genesis 5:1), with an intrinsic spirit/soul potential to communicate with Him (Deuteronomy 5:24; Ecclesiastes 3:11; John 14:26; 2 Timothy 3:6). Communication between an omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent Being and a finite human requires some instruction to be set forth by the Wiser of the parties.
The Holy Scriptures command us to (and teach us how to):

pray to Him (1 Thesselonians 5:17) (See VARIED METHODS OF PRAISE AND WORSHIP PART II)

praise Him (Psalm 92:1) (see VARIED METHODS OF PRAISE AND WORSHIP PART I)

worship Him (Psalm 29:2) (See WHAT IS WORSHIP?)

In order to worship, believers must turn their body, soul and spirit attention towards the object of worship. In order to pray or to offer praise, they must actively engage the mouth and/or other parts of the body. When a decision is made to focus attention on God for the purpose of prayer, praise and worship, an incredible spirit to Spirit connection becomes possible: Temporary things of earth grow dim, realities of heaven and God get clarified, the ears of the soul are opened to hear His voice, the spirit eyes of understanding are opened to see His power, glory and holiness, and the worshipper actually becomes a little more like the Creator's original intention for His human creation (2 Corinthians 3:18).

Built within every human being is the need to worship. Every person inevitably succumbs to that need. If instinctive worship is not directed towards the Creator, it will subconsciously or purposely be misdirected towards a person, an ideology, a way of life, a cause, an angelic being, money, pleasure, sex, power, leisure, success, the intellect, the emotions, the body, the self.

A loving father commands respect from his children as he calls them to come in from the cold, away from danger, to a safe place of provision. The Creator commands prayer, praise and worship in order to:

draw away from the disappointment of self and sin to something and Someone so much greater and more fulfilling (Jeremiah 33:3; Romans 14:17; Revelations 3:20)

redirect away from 'good things' that swallow up too much precious time and effort (Mark 14:37)

provide an effective atmosphere for spiritual battle (See PRAISE AND WORSHIP PART 2)